One type of carpet printing apparatus which is known generally as a `flat bed` type comprises a number of screens or equivalent printing heads which are formed with the pattern to be printed and which are reciprocated simultaneously up and down to screen print a multcoloured pattern, each screen being provided with only one colour, onto a carpet which is moved in steps, beneath the screen. Such apparatus has only hitherto been capable of printing a regular over-all pattern having a small repeat distance on a carpet, the size of repeat being limited to the length of each screen. The apparatus has not been capable of printing a pattern having a large repeat distance, such as a "Persian" design, or of printing large squares or rectangles. This is due to the fact that if one of the screens is provided with a portion of the design to be printed say an end of a border, which is in fact only required to be printed once for each pattern repeat, then the border end would be printed each time the carpet is moved one step beneath the screens instead of appearing only at the end of the pattern.